MONROVIA – Following President George Manneh Weah’s nation address Wednesday, May 29, in which he stated measures that his administration is set to embark upon to stabilize the economy and to uncover alleged corruption over the last 10 years, new pieces of information detailing alleged corruption at the Ministries of Health and Finance and Development Planning during the regime of former President Sirleaf have surfaced.
The President noted in his address: “We intend to intensify our fight against corruption. But as we battle corruption, our fight will be based on the facts and the evidence of corrupt activities that is adduced by reports from audits that have been professionally conducted, rather than mere perceptions and unsubstantiated allegations”.
As a matter of hammering his message, the President said: “In the next several days, my Government will begin the review of all General Auditing Commission audits over the past 10 years, and will commence legal actions against every person that is implicated in these audit reports. Anyone found culpable will face the full force of the law”
A USAID-sanctioned audit report shows that former President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf’s government squandered more than US$10 million of US tax payers’ money with no level of accountability in sight. This alleged misappropriation took place when Liberians were fighting for survival during the dark days of the Ebola Virus Disease. (EVD)
Under an arrangement known as Liberia Fixed Amount Reimbursement Agreement (FARA), the Government of Liberia and USAID agreed to collaborate in a prefunding engagement of the health sector. The first FARA program covering US$55,224,720 in USAID funds disbursed to the MOH was signed with FARA-1 covering September 16, 2011 to December 31, 2015 and FARA-2 from January 2016-March 31, 2018.
For example, under FARA-1, the MOH noted that it paid the amount of US$32,102m to vendors, whereas its report to USAID reported an amount of US$35,088m leaving an unaccounted discrepancy of US$2.9m. In summary, the report noted that the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning provided US40.6 million to the Ministry of Health and of that amount, there should have been a balance of US$8.5million.
It was agreed by both the government of Liberia and USAID that the savings US$8.5m from FARA-1 would have been transferred to FARA-2. Further, the agreement noted that the MOH will first utilize the US$8.5million before additional funds were to be provided, but as it turned out, the MOH had only US$2.1m as excess. FARA-2 also showed a financial discrepancy of almost US$1.5m.
The audit exposed a wide range of financial discrepancies in the accounting and management systems that were far below the GAAP standards. One observation showed that most of the documents provided were irrelevant to the FARA and was only intended to confuse the auditors. There were also vouchers with no supporting documents to support the amount or type of transaction.
For example, during the heat of the EBOLA crisis, an amount of US$319,303 was paid to retirement of AHA with no voucher or document to authenticate the legitimacy of the institution or individual. Similarly, an amount of US$3,155,576m was paid to GOL/MFDP/FARA year four quarter four receipt, which proved to be anonymous. All of these disbursements were made during the time when families were grieving over the deaths of their loved ones as a result of Ebola.
The RUMP and Associates report also showed huge fraud in the bank reconciliation process as the names of the account holders were not listed. Further, pieces of evidence indicate that the bank account number on the bank reconciliation differed from the bank account number on the bank statement. The account number on the bank statement showed: 0011134700368902, whereas the account number on the bank reconciliation showed: 1021-016822-2036- an open door for massive withdrawals.
The 37-page report also noted that the Project Accountant and Comptroller did not approve some of the bank reconciliations and that the name of the account holder on the bank statement differed from the account holder name of prior bank statements.
When quizzed about these financial malfeasances, the MOH responded by saying that one Mr. Samuel Yarkpazuo, who was the transitional period Comptroller and Management Accountant proxied for the Comptroller.
In two separate letters dated March 8, 2019 to Auditor General Yusador S. Gaye, USAID comptroller/Liberia Michael Vordjorbe warns that unless otherwise, the Government of Liberia will have to pay money unaccounted for during the life of the project (2011-2018).
Said Michael Vordjorbe: “After issuance of your disclaimer report, USAID/Liberia will request additional documentation from the relevant MoFDP and if the amount cannot be validated, the US government will have no other alternative but to formally request reimbursement of the Bilateral Project Agreement amount totaling US$12,640,000.
This alleged act of economic crime, especially perpetrated during a period of great grief and suffering of Ebola and other health related victims, is likely to mark the opening of the books on accountability by the pro-poor government. The fight against corruption is not an easy task. But as it stands, the Liberian people are looking forward to the day that people who abused public resources such as that of NOCAL and other institutions will be brought to book.